Tony Caralla's Parts Inventory - Sad Story

[dpson]

A couple months or so ago there was a listing of parts for sale on the Studebaker swap page. Include in the list was an NOS power steering ram, which I've been looking for for some time. I tried to email the seller with no sucess so decided to give him a call. In the course of conversation I found out that the seller was Tony Caralla's grandson, Wayne Morris. (for those of you who don't know who Tony Caralla was, he was a well know Studebaker enthusiast and parts vender who ran A&M Garage in the Bronx, NY. There is a nice article on him in the January 1994 Turning Wheels. He died in 1993).

Wayne told me that he had a nine page list of Studebaker parts he wanted to sell and that he'd send it along with the power steering ram. There were a few items on the list that I needed and as it turned out Wayne (who now runs A&M Garage in Mamaroneck, NY)wanted to get out of the Studebaker parts and repair business so a deal was struck and I bought out what he had left. He also lamented that he wished he had had my name back in March as the building in which his grandfather's (and later his mother's)Studebaker parts inventory was located was being converted to apartments and the lion's share of the parts went to the scrap yard. He said he had contact several local Studebaker people and they came in and took a few things, but literally "millions of parts" (his exact words) were scrapped. He went on to add that it included original Studebaker parts bins, etc. He didn't seem to want to talk too much about it so I didn't press him for further details. All in all a sad ending to a great Studebaker legacy.

Attached is a photo of the current location of A&M garage.


Dan Peterson
Montpelier, VT
1960 Lark V-8 Convertible
1960 Lark V-8 Convertible (parts car)
1962 Lark V-8 Regal Convertible

[raprice]

Boy, that IS a sad story. Tony was a legend in the Stude hobby and had an incredible memory for part numbers. It was amazing how he could remember instantly a part number for a particular year and model Stude. A friend of mine went to Tony's shop many yeara ago looking for a part and had the part number with him. When he asked Tony for the part, Tony corrected him and told him he had the wrong part number. Of course, Tony was right.
Also, a number of years ago, Smithsonian Magazine had an article devoted to the Studebaker Drivers Club with a special sidebar about Tony. I wish I still had the article or could remember what issue it was.
I was sorry to hear that all that good stuff went to the scrap heap. Who knows what hard-to-find parts were in that pile?
That said, I still appreciate your posting.
Rog

'59 Lark VI Regal Hardtop

[raprice]

Boy, that IS a sad story. Tony was a legend in the Stude hobby and had an incredible memory for part numbers. It was amazing how he could remember instantly a part number for a particular year and model Stude. A friend of mine went to Tony's shop many yeara ago looking for a part and had the part number with him. When he asked Tony for the part, Tony corrected him and told him he had the wrong part number. Of course, Tony was right.
Also, a number of years ago, Smithsonian Magazine had an article devoted to the Studebaker Drivers Club with a special sidebar about Tony. I wish I still had the article or could remember what issue it was.
I was sorry to hear that all that good stuff went to the scrap heap. Who knows what hard-to-find parts were in that pile?
That said, I still appreciate your posting.
Rog

'59 Lark VI Regal Hardtop

[lstude]

quote:Also, a number of years ago, Smithsonian Magazine had an article devoted to the Studebaker Drivers Club with a special sidebar about Tony. I wish I still had the article or could remember what issue it was.

I have the Smithsonian magazine with the article. It was December 1991. It is a great 11 page article. If you want a copy, email me and I will copy it and send it to you.






Leonard Shepherd

http://leonardshepherd.com/

[lstude]

quote:Also, a number of years ago, Smithsonian Magazine had an article devoted to the Studebaker Drivers Club with a special sidebar about Tony. I wish I still had the article or could remember what issue it was.

I have the Smithsonian magazine with the article. It was December 1991. It is a great 11 page article. If you want a copy, email me and I will copy it and send it to you.






Leonard Shepherd

http://leonardshepherd.com/

[kmul221]

A few years ago I purchased a 41 President funeral coach body by Bender.The car had had some vandalism & the dash instruments had been destroyed & the horn ring was missing.After a long search I finally ended up at Tony's A&M Garage.He rhymed off the part #'s like he was reading them from the manual.He had all the dash parts needed + he had a clock that went in the glove box door.He knew all this from memory.The world lost a amazing man & a true old-school Studebaker enthusiast when he passed. It is sad his business will be no more & another source will be gone forever.

[kmul221]

A few years ago I purchased a 41 President funeral coach body by Bender.The car had had some vandalism & the dash instruments had been destroyed & the horn ring was missing.After a long search I finally ended up at Tony's A&M Garage.He rhymed off the part #'s like he was reading them from the manual.He had all the dash parts needed + he had a clock that went in the glove box door.He knew all this from memory.The world lost a amazing man & a true old-school Studebaker enthusiast when he passed. It is sad his business will be no more & another source will be gone forever.

[studegary]

Within the past couple of months, I sold my father's Colt to a gun shop in a neighboring town. It turned out the gun shop owner, Charlie, is also a grandson of Tony. Charlie has had some Studebaker items on eBay. I remember Tony well (Tony used to drive a Packard up to our local meets.) and remember Wayne selling Studebaker parts at Reedsville. I am only three counties north of The Bronx and didn't know anything about the disposition of the parts. BondoBill is in the next county north of The Bronx. I wonder if he was aware of what was happening.

Gary L.
Wappinger, NY

1959 DeLuxe pickup (restomod)

[studegary]

Within the past couple of months, I sold my father's Colt to a gun shop in a neighboring town. It turned out the gun shop owner, Charlie, is also a grandson of Tony. Charlie has had some Studebaker items on eBay. I remember Tony well (Tony used to drive a Packard up to our local meets.) and remember Wayne selling Studebaker parts at Reedsville. I am only three counties north of The Bronx and didn't know anything about the disposition of the parts. BondoBill is in the next county north of The Bronx. I wonder if he was aware of what was happening.

Gary L.
Wappinger, NY

1959 DeLuxe pickup (restomod)

[bonehead007]

I wish I had known. I'm accross the river in NJ. Would have been an easy 30 min ride over the GWB..

[bonehead007]

I wish I had known. I'm accross the river in NJ. Would have been an easy 30 min ride over the GWB..

[go-studebaker]

Hi guys,
that is a real sad story. A lot of Tonys parts went back to the 20's. Most of it was therefor scrap as there are very few people that can recognize that sort of part and if you own something you cant describe acurately, you are in Barney Rubble (trouble) big time. I met Tony about 3 times and once at his shop in New York.

Nice guy but very small and great to talk to!! Also I never realized that people from NY city actually spoke for real like they did in the movies. That was an education for a 26 year old Australian.

Personnally it was all worth saving, but there are few people out there that would take the volume or could be bothered with it in my experience.

It was funny that it was not listed as being dispoesed of in Turning Wheels.

Greg



Greg Diffen
Australian Stude nut living in Warwick, United Kingdom

1933 St Regis Brougham Model 56 Dutch delivered
1937 Dicator sedan. Australian Body by TJ Richards
1939 Packard Seven Passenger monster UK delivered
1939 Commander Swiss Cabriolet by Lagenthal
1988 Avanti Convertible

[go-studebaker]

Hi guys,
that is a real sad story. A lot of Tonys parts went back to the 20's. Most of it was therefor scrap as there are very few people that can recognize that sort of part and if you own something you cant describe acurately, you are in Barney Rubble (trouble) big time. I met Tony about 3 times and once at his shop in New York.

Nice guy but very small and great to talk to!! Also I never realized that people from NY city actually spoke for real like they did in the movies. That was an education for a 26 year old Australian.

Personnally it was all worth saving, but there are few people out there that would take the volume or could be bothered with it in my experience.

It was funny that it was not listed as being dispoesed of in Turning Wheels.

Greg



Greg Diffen
Australian Stude nut living in Warwick, United Kingdom

1933 St Regis Brougham Model 56 Dutch delivered
1937 Dicator sedan. Australian Body by TJ Richards
1939 Packard Seven Passenger monster UK delivered
1939 Commander Swiss Cabriolet by Lagenthal
1988 Avanti Convertible

[bondobilly]

I do not know "who" Wayne called, but he never called me. This is very strange because I have been getting calls here asking why Louise would never return calls.

I am not going to say if this is the truth, but as I heard, Wayne had to "buy" parts from Louise, he had no direct access. I just posted a question to the Manhattan Chapter asking if anyone knew about this.

When Tony closed the original A&M all the Manhatan guys were given first crack to any thing in the building. One guy got the cash register, which after a few months of cleaning turned out to be a musuem piece and sits proudly in his home. Others got neon signs, and assorted other items. I got a 56J engine and parts for a flat fee of $100.

As I heard the story, after a year or so after Tony's death a deal was struck with some major vendor, and most was sold. Louise and Wayne decided to hold on to the really hard to find parts, stuff going back to pre-war.

Tha apartment house where they re-opened the A&M in had a huge basement and a garage. In the basement were old wooden clothing closets and sheet metal was hung in them. The garage part had floor to ceiling shelves, and Louise had a card system that she and Tony coded. If there was a part on a card it would say, Garage, shelf 3 box 279. Most were old amo boxes. Other cards would say room three, box 43 etc.

The place, after most was sold off was still a treasure trove. Very sad to hear this.

BG

[bondobilly]

I do not know "who" Wayne called, but he never called me. This is very strange because I have been getting calls here asking why Louise would never return calls.

I am not going to say if this is the truth, but as I heard, Wayne had to "buy" parts from Louise, he had no direct access. I just posted a question to the Manhattan Chapter asking if anyone knew about this.

When Tony closed the original A&M all the Manhatan guys were given first crack to any thing in the building. One guy got the cash register, which after a few months of cleaning turned out to be a musuem piece and sits proudly in his home. Others got neon signs, and assorted other items. I got a 56J engine and parts for a flat fee of $100.

As I heard the story, after a year or so after Tony's death a deal was struck with some major vendor, and most was sold. Louise and Wayne decided to hold on to the really hard to find parts, stuff going back to pre-war.

Tha apartment house where they re-opened the A&M in had a huge basement and a garage. In the basement were old wooden clothing closets and sheet metal was hung in them. The garage part had floor to ceiling shelves, and Louise had a card system that she and Tony coded. If there was a part on a card it would say, Garage, shelf 3 box 279. Most were old amo boxes. Other cards would say room three, box 43 etc.

The place, after most was sold off was still a treasure trove. Very sad to hear this.

BG